WASHINGTON -- On the fence no longer, President Barack Obama declared his unequivocal support for gay marriage Wednesday, a historic announcement that gave the polarizing social issue a more prominent role in the 2012 race for the White House.

The announcement was the first by a sitting president, and Republican challenger Mitt Romney swiftly disagreed with it. "I believe that marriage is between a man and a woman," he said while campaigning in Oklahoma.

Gay rights advocates -- in Boulder County and nationally -- cheered Obama's declaration, which they had long urged him to make.

"There is a lot going on right now where LGBT people are not being treated equally and they face discrimination, and when our government affirms that discrimination, it's alienating," said Aicila Lewis, executive director of Out Boulder, an LGBT advocacy organization. "To have the president of the United States actually stand up and say that he recognizes our equality is an impactful and powerful experience. It doesn't actually change the laws ... but it definitely feels inspiring."

Obama revealed his decision after a series of events that made clear the political ground was shifting. He once opposed gay marriage but more recently had said his views were "evolving."

In an interview with ABC in which he blended the personal and the presidential, Obama said "it wouldn't dawn" on his daughters, Sasha and Malia, that some of their friends' parents would be treated differently than others. He said he also thought of aides "who are in incredibly committed monogamous same-sex relationships who are raising kids together."

Obama added that he thought about "those soldiers or airmen or Marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf, and yet feel constrained even though now that 'don't ask, don't tell' is gone because they're not able to commit themselves in a marriage."

Kathy Young, left, of Longmont, gives her girlfriend, Debbie Becker, a kiss on the cheek Wednesday at the East Mapleton Park and Ballfields in Boulder.
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Jeremy Papasso
)

Longmont resident Kathy Young has been in a committed relationship with her partner, Debbie Becker, for 15 years.

"I am very pleased. It's been a long time coming, and I know he's in a tricky political place to do it so I'm even more impressed that he did," Young said. "The thoughtful way in which he said it made it mean a lot more. Anyone can read off a teleprompter, but for him to say his position 'evolved' means that we can actually do something, that we can change people's minds."

Young said she and her partner have considered traveling to a state that recognizes gay marriage, then decided they should not have to leave the state to receive the same rights as straight neighbors. Young said there is a long way to go but that Obama has taken LGBT rights further than any president before.

The president said he was taking a personal position. Aides said the president's shift would have no impact on current policies and he continues to believe that marriage is an issue best decided by states.

"I have hesitated on gay marriage in part because I thought that civil unions would be sufficient," Obama said in the interview. He added, "I was sensitive to the fact that for a lot of people the word 'marriage' was something that evokes very powerful traditions, religious beliefs and so forth."

Now, he said, "it is important for me personally to go ahead and affirm that same-sex couples should be able to get married."

He spoke on the heels of a pair of events that underscored the sensitivity of an issue that has long divided the nation.

President Barack Obama speaks in Washington on Tuesday. (Associated Press)

On Tuesday, voters in North Carolina -- a potential battleground in the fall election -- approved an amendment to the state constitution affirming that marriage may only be a union of a man and a woman. Also Tuesday, a bill that would have granted gays the rights to enter into civil unions died on the Colorado State House calendar after a nightlong power struggle.

U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, D-Boulder, one of four openly gay members of Congress, said Wednesday he was disappointed with the way state Republicans handled the bill, allowing it to die without being put to a vote, but he was pleased to hear the president publicly support gay marriage.

"I am proud today to have a president who supports marriage equality," Polis said. "It's about strengthening American families and strengthening the institution of marriage by making sure that gay and lesbian Americans have the same access to the rights and responsibilities of a marriage as everyone else."

Several of the president's biggest financial backers are gay, and some have prodded him publicly to declare his support for same-sex marriage.

Senior administration officials said Obama came to the conclusion that gay couples should have the right to legally marry earlier this year and had planned to make his views known publicly before the Democratic National Convention in early September. They conceded that Vice President Joe Biden's public comments in favor of gay marriage Sunday accelerated the timeline, but said the vice president's remarks were impromptu and not part of a coordinated effort to soften the ground for a shift by the president.

As recently as eight years ago, conservatives in several states maneuvered successfully to place questions relating to gay marriage on the Election Day ballot as a way of boosting turnout for President George W. Bush's re-election.

Now, nationwide polling suggests increasing acceptance of gay marriage. In a national survey released earlier this month, Gallup reported 50 percent of those polled said it should be legal, and 48 percent were opposed.

Whatever the polls, the political crosscurrents are tricky, and administration officials conceded as much. Some top aides argued that gay marriage is toxic at the ballot box in competitive states like North Carolina.

Shifting his emphasis, even briefly, could open Obama up to Republican criticism that he is taking his eye off the economy, voters' No. 1 issue.

The decision also creates an area of clear contrast between Obama and his Republican rival.

Maggie Gallagher, co-founder of the National Organization for Marriage and a leading supporter of the constitutional amendment approved in North Carolina on Tuesday, said she welcomed Obama's announcement at the same time she disagreed with it.

"Politically, we welcome this," she said. "We think it's a huge mistake. President Obama is choosing the money over the voters the day after 61 percent of North Carolinians in a key swing state demonstrated they oppose gay marriage."

Acknowledging that his support for same-sex marriage may rankle religious conservatives, Obama said he thinks about his faith in part through the prism of the Golden Rule -- treating others the way you would want to be treated.

"That's what we try to impart to our kids and that's what motivates me as president, and I figure the most consistent I can be in being true to those precepts, the better I'll be as a dad and a husband and hopefully the better I'll be as president," Obama said.

Six states -- all in the Northeast except Iowa -- and the District of Columbia allow same-sex marriages.

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